


Suicide Mission

by fleetfoot1



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Batfamily (DCU), Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne Bonding, Dick Grayson is Nightwing, Gen, Hurt Bruce Wayne, Hurt Dick Grayson, Protective Dick Grayson, Protective Parent Bruce Wayne
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-18
Updated: 2020-05-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:22:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24245728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fleetfoot1/pseuds/fleetfoot1
Summary: The court of owls isn't afraid to use deadly force in order to try and take Dick from his family. Dick and Bruce just have to come up with a plan to do what needs to be done in order to save them.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Everyone
Comments: 27
Kudos: 176





	Suicide Mission

It was undoubtedly, the most suicidal, idiotic mission Bruce had ever come up with.

Infiltrating and trying to take down the court of owls has always been borderline suicidal to begin with, but that combined with the dozens of talons they had definitive intel on being made over the last six months really was the icing on the cake to the shit-show his life had become.

But they had threatened everyone in Gotham. Alfred. Tim. Damian. Jason... the list went on and on. Bruce had refused to give in and let them take Dick, despite the repeated messages that his family would be left alone if he did so, and the court had taken to pushing him just a bit more every single time. It was driving him insane, and the fact that their ‘motivations’ had become just a little more deadly was a brutal reminder that the court would not be generous with their time. Dick, of course, had fought back adamantly, screaming about how “ _my life isn’t worth all of this, Bruce, and you know it!”_

Their yelling matches had always been pretty memorable, but Bruce had never felt a pain in his chest quite like the one he had every time he had to listen to Dick tell him that his life wasn’t important. It felt like there was a balloon trapped in his lungs that swelled with each word that came out of Dick’s mouth, and no matter how hard he tried to calm Dick down, he was never quite able to pop it.

First it had been Barbara’s wheelchair collapsing in the middle of her chemistry lab and had ended with her nearly lighting the school and herself on fire. Then it was Tim’s comms going out in the middle of a bust that had him fighting for his life. When Damian had changed his mind last minute on a private charter to Metropolis, only to find the plane engulfed in obviously man-made flames, Dick had drawn the line.

“We can’t keep living like this, B,” he’d breathed, the words coming out as hoarse rasps, and Bruce realized with a jolt that he’d never actually heard Dick so quiet before. So...defeated. “I’m not going to let them keep hurting people, and if we don’t come up with anything soon, I’m going to knock myself out on a rooftop and wait for them to pick me up themselves.”

And that had been that.

The plan had been fairly simple, really, considering that all kids were all benched. A fact that had sparked many, many arguments and a couple of physical fights both in the cave and publically, but both Bruce and Dick had held firm. No one else needed to be put at risk.

Dick was in charge of holding the owls’ attention as long as possible. He was supposed to walk right up to their front door, punch everyone in sight and yell enough to piss off as many of them as he could. Bruce needed every talon possible to converge on Dick’s location (This being the aspect of the plan that made him want to vomit every time he thought about it, but Dick wouldn’t listen to his concerns. When did he ever?). Dick would keep the talons occupied while Bruce, who infiltrated the owls’ meeting with a stolen mask from one of their previous missions, gathered intel on the few individuals who weren’t in attendance, then knocked out everyone in the room with the specialized gas he had in his belt.

There were so, so many things that could go wrong. So many unaccounted variables, so much potential for miscommunication, hell, their intel could even be off. So yes. The plan was undoubtedly and completely suicidal. 

But honesty, Bruce was ready to go in regardless. Dick had been losing his mind with guilt over the last few months, and Bruce wasn’t particularly keen on seeing anyone else in the family in danger again. The first few instances had already made his heart stop dead in his chest. He didn’t need to see any of the results of the court’s more intense motivation.

They’d given themselves three days of planning. Three days, over the course of which Dick’s panic had obviously been building, despite his efforts to try and calm down. He reviewed their plan over and over again, double and triple checked equipment, and constantly looked for improvements. Anything to try and make the chaotic tendencies of their plan slightly less so. By the day of the court’s meeting though, he was oddly...calm. Calm enough to make Bruce notice, but he had assumed that Dick had simply set his worries aside and was mentally preparing himself for everything they had to do. Bruce was honestly just relieved that he wasn’t tearing himself apart anymore. Dick had talked to all of his siblings and Alfred the night before, likely trying to ease any of the worries they had and had probably ended up calming himself down at the same time.

Bruce knew for a fact that there was a huge chance that they wouldn’t both make it out of this alive, but he’d kept that particular statistic to himself. Dick didn’t need it on his mind. But he had already decided: if anyone went down tonight, it wouldn’t be Dick. Bruce would make sure of it if it was the last thing he did.

Dick came up to him in full gear as they prepared to set out, his body tensed but alert. Bruce’s mouth was in a tight line, the endless array of back-ups and contingency plans running through his head in an effort to ensure he was prepared for every possible situation.

Dick’s mouth quirked up in a half smile. If Bruce had looked a little closer, he might have noticed something... off about it. Something that reminded him of the way Dick would look as a kid when he stole one of Alfred’s cookies before dinner and was trying to hide it until it was too late for any of them to do anything about it. “You look worried, old man.”

Bruce gave him a look, the lie springing easily far too easily from his lips. “I’m not worried. Just focused on the mission.”

Dick didn’t break his gaze from him. “Right.” He paused for a moment. “Listen, I just wanna say that I appreciate you doing all of this for me. Not just this mission with the owls, but,” he paused again, blinking at the floor for a moment before lifting his gaze back to Bruce. “for taking me in all those years ago, too. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”

Bruce stared at him a moment, something in his chest twisting at the unexpected amount of emotion in Dick’s eyes. He grabbed hold of Dick’s arm and squeezed gently. “Of course,” he said. “I did what had to be done.”

Something flickered on Dick’s face at that. He took a deep breath and moved faster than Bruce had ever seen him move before, something metallic Bruce hadn’t noticed him holding flicking out and striking him in the side of the neck. “And that’s what I’m doing now,” Dick whispered.

There was a slight pinch on the inner lining of his cowl, and a syringe was clattering to the floor before Dick even let loose of the breath he was holding. Bruce’s eyes widened, a hand reaching up to cup the slight sore spot above his collarbone as his vision started to blur and his knees gave out. Dick’s arms wrapped around his middle and guided him over to one of the gurneys in the medbay. Bruce’s head spun relentlessly as he tried to form the words, a violent sense of _wrong_ permeating his gut. “What.. Dick... What did you...”

Dick looked at him with the slightest bit of guilt in his eyes, but it was overshadowed by the utter exhaustion and defeat that had taken over his frame. “I’m sorry, B, but I’ve got to be selfish this time,” he murmured, the words coming out in a weary sigh. “I can’t live in a world where you lose your life because you don’t want me to give up mine. You saved me all those years ago. Now let me do the same.”

Bruce was barely processing the words, the true meaning of them sinking in as he tries to lurch himself to his feet to call Alfred, Tim, Jason, Damian, _anyone_.

Dick stepped onto his bike with a kind of sad smile. “Good bye, Bruce.” he said, his voice breaking on his name.

The roar of Dick’s bike as he shot out of the cave was the last thing Bruce heard before blacking out.

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by [this](https://whumpster-dumpster.tumblr.com/post/614279722447388672/hero-is-about-to-go-on-a-suicide-mission-they) prompt!
> 
> I take prompts on [tumblr](https://litrally.tumblr.com/)!


End file.
